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schaeffers<>Friday Market Recap: Earnings, Banking Blues Drag Down DJIA; COMP Blazes Path Higher
Bernanke's comments helped the greenback snap a three-session losing streak
by Andrea Kramer ([e-mail]) 10/15/2010 4:19 PM

Despite an early trip into the black – courtesy of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's hints at more stimulus measures – stocks spent most of the session mired in red ink today. Fueling the bears were escalating concerns about the nationwide foreclosure investigation's potential impact on the banking sector, as evidenced by Bank of America Corp.'s (BAC) trip into new-low territory. Elsewhere, fellow blue chip General Electric's (GE) narrower-than-expected quarterly profit, as well as an unexpected dip in the University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment survey, also fanned the bearish flames, virtually negating any optimism stoked by a dose of stronger-than-anticipated retail sales data. However, the session wasn't exactly swept by the skeptics; while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) may have finished south of breakeven, an impressive earnings report from Google Inc. (GOOG) helped the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite (COMP) to its best finish since May 3.

"After the high-flying cloud computing stocks were crushed last week, now it's the financials that are the big underperformers," noted Senior Technical Strategist Ryan Detrick. "Can the overall market hold up even as the banks continue to drop? Only time will tell, but we all know how that worked during the last bear market."






The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA – 11,062.78) was off nearly 84 points at its intraday nadir, but pared most of its deficit to end on a narrower loss of 31.8 points, or 0.3%. Seventeen of the Dow's 30 components finished in the red – led by General Electric, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) – while tech concerns Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) paved the path higher for the 11 advancing equities; both Alcoa (AA) and Intel Corp. (INTC) called it a wash. However, despite today's dip, the Dow still finished the week 0.5% ahead.

The S&P 500 Index (SPX – 1,176.19) bounced back from its intraday lows, eking out a gain of 2.4%, or 0.2%. However, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP – 2,468.77) was the uncontested star of the session, avoiding the red altogether to finish with a gain of 33.3 points, or 1.4%. For the week, the SPX added 0.9%, while the COMP advanced a healthy 2.8%.

Turning to equities in focus, DryShips Inc. (DRYS) inked a lucrative drilling deal ... Analysts fawned over Dollar Tree, Inc.'s (DLTR) Canadian acquisition ... Options traders are attempting to capitalize on Urban Outfitters, Inc.'s (URBN) technical slump ... Call speculators converged on Halliburton (HAL) ahead of earnings ... Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) approved both a stock split and dividend hike ... and today's Quote of the Day comes from Alan Johnson, founder of compensation analysis firm Johnson & Associates, Inc. Although Derek Jeter, 36, is nearing the end of his 10-year, $189 million deal with the New York Yankees, analysts doubt the shortstop will ever don anything other than pinstripes. In fact, as Johnson points out, the club's career hits leader could probably demand another lucrative contract on star power alone, stating:

"He's Madonna."

But these weren't the only headlines hitting the Street today. Click on the links below for our blog coverage of:

* Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY)
* CBOE Holdings, Inc. (CBOE)
* General Dynamics (GD)
* and Foot Locker, Inc. (FL)

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